Germany moves to ban Scientology

Germany's interior minister called the Church of Scientology "an unconstitutional organization" and said the nation's domestic intelligence agency would move to ban the group, a report said Sunday.

Federal Interior Minister Wolfgang Schaeuble's remarks came shortly after interior ministers from Germany's 16 states agreed unanimously Friday to move toward banning Scientology, which has been under observation for a decade on allegations that it "threatens the peaceful democratic order" of the country.

"Scientology is an unconstitutional organization," Schaeuble was quoted as saying by the Bild am Sonntag weekly, which featured a picture of prominent Scientology member Tom Cruise on the front page with a headline asking: "How dangerous is the Cruise cult?"

Schaeuble was quoted as saying the organization restricts "essential basic and human rights like the dignity of man or the right to equal treatment."

Schaeuble said Scientology rejects Germany's democratic system and that therefore, "the federal and state intelligence agencies will collect their current findings to check further steps."

Sabine Weber, president of the Church of Scientology in Berlin, called Schaeuble's remarks "unrealistic" and "absurd."

She said the interior minister had based his evaluation of the organization "on a few sentences out of 500,000 pages of Scientological literature." She did not give any specific examples.